“Today we celebrate our parish, and the reality that we are sons and daughters of Our Lady of Mercy,” Auxiliary Bishop Edmund Whalen said during a Mass honoring Our Lady of Mercy at her namesake church in the Bronx, on Sunday, Sept. 20. 

The Mass, celebrated in Spanish, was one of many patroness gatherings the parish planned for its novena, Sept. 15 to 23. The feast day is Sept. 24, when the parish will hold a day of solemnity honoring Mary as Mother of Mercy (la Virgen de las Mercedes), advocate of the poor and the oppressed. 

The Mercedarians, formally the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, were founded in 1218 by St. Peter Nolasco after a vision of the Virgin Mary. The order originally worked to ransom Christian captives from imprisonment. The feast day is a major public holiday and national celebration in the Dominican Republic, where Our Lady of Mercedes is revered as the official patron saint. 

Bishop urges the faithful to deepen their faith 

“Thank you for your presence despite the rain; thank you for your presence with joy,” Bishop Whalen said at the start of the 11 a.m. Mass. “Today we celebrate our parish, and the reality that we are sons and daughters of Our Lady of Mercy; it is an opportunity to deepen our faith … The Lord walks with us every day.” 

Later in the homily, the bishop spoke of the importance of faith, the power of faith, and the significance of celebrating God’s call to live in His mercy. 

“Mercy from the Lord is not just about forgiveness; mercy from the Lord is a new life, it is an opportunity to live according to the Scriptures, according to the commandments, according to the Eucharist that we receive today and every Sunday,” Bishop Whalen said.  

“We celebrate today the mercy that liberates us, that liberates us from the chains of sin and the chains of the difficulties of life (such as) fear about the future, especially with immigration at this moment,” he said. 

Bishop links hope to Stations of the Cross 

The bishop also named broader fears, including ongoing wars and “the future of the world.” But he stressed the importance and power of hope, “la esperanza,” and the “power of the resurrection and the Eucharist.” Turning to the Stations of the Cross, he said, “We must carry our cross, the cross of life. Sometimes we fall, as did the Lord … But the Lord helps us carry the cross, and when we fall, the Lord lifts us up, to continue on, to continue with Him. He listens to our prayers … And His mother, the Lord finds His mother during the fourth station … The Virgin Mary finds us every day in the Stations of the Cross of our life.” 

More than 700 people attended the Mass, which was followed by a neighborhood procession that included the bishop. Father Osvaldo Hernandez, the pastor, concelebrated the Mass and walked in the procession. During the Mass, the bishop blessed the church’s newly installed Stations of the Cross with holy water. He also blessed a large figure of Our Lady of Mercy with incense; the figure was featured in the procession. 

Parishioners welcome the bishop’s presence 

Luis Lopez, 49, volunteered at the Mass. “This is a big event because we are celebrating and honoring Our Lady of Mercy,” Lopez told The Good Newsroom, noting that the parish shares its name with Mary’s title as Our Lady of Mercy. “I am, we are, very thankful that the bishop is here with us today to celebrate this Mass. His presence strengthens us and helps us to continue in the path of the Lord.”

Our Lady of Mercy Church is located on Marion Avenue, south of Fordham Road and east of the Grand Concourse. The website is https://ourladyofmercyny.org/